Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 177: The All Phenomena E
As the door creaked open, everyone drew in a sharp breath at the sight of the hospital room. Then they looked at all the other doors standing wide open, and the chill spread to the soles of their feet.
This taboo…
“No wonder Fang Xiu was so at ease,” Song Zheng murmured. “He said it was fine even if we didn’t help.”
Still, just in case, he added, “Let’s not go inside for now.”
They had seen Fang Xiu use countless doors to defend himself. His only warning was “don’t act against me.”
But that instruction was too vague. People’s minds tend to drift toward reckless thoughts.
Earlier, they had all gone all-out to stop Cen Ling, yet he still made it into the room. If someone as powerful as him died instantly, it was probably best not to take chances.
As expected, everyone except Guan He nodded vigorously. Yes, yes, staying in the hallway was fine. Great spot to watch from.
The wooden ferryman relaxed when things calmed down, and the boat stopped rocking. Curious, he leaned beside the bed, watching the window like it was a stage.
The mushroom trio followed him, crowding in. Yan Yan returned to human form and even started spitting to clear his mouth.
Guan He, on the other hand, decided to continue guarding the room.
Together with Cheng Songyun, he closed the door again, pushing Cen Ling’s lifeless corpse out into the corridor, where it slumped crookedly to the floor.
Standing guard at attention, Guan He noticed Jiao Jiao elegantly smoothing her skirt before crouching beside the body.
“Miss, aren’t you going to take a look?” Guan He asked curiously.
“Something feels off.” Jiao Jiao rubbed her dark lipstick. “Cen Ling was still a major figure. Dying just like that, without a sound?”
“I even had to take a potion before the ritual began—if I died, there’d at least be a corpse-poison explosion.”
Guan He was speechless. “What about Yan Yan?”
“He’ll drink the antidote before the ritual begins.”
Jiao Jiao smiled. “Anyway, I just don’t think it’s that simple.”
“Let me take a look.” Lu Yang crawled out of the boat.
Whether it was the earlier garden battle or the fight against Cen Ling, he hadn’t been able to help at all; his corpse-army tactics had no use here. Unleashing corpses would’ve only created chaos, so he had curled up in the core boat’s cabin, making himself as harmless as possible.
…Finally, his turn had come.
Lu Yang squatted next to Cen Ling and pressed a finger to his brow.
His relaxed expression quickly vanished, and a deep frown appeared.
“Stop watching and get ready to defend!” Lu Yang stood up sharply and waved his hand.
All the corpses that had been wandering around the hospital rushed to surround him from both ends of the corridor, then turned and formed a defensive formation.
“But I didn’t sense any yin aura,” Yan Yan said. “And Song Ge didn’t detect any killing intent either.”
As someone trained in the metaphysical arts, Yan Yan was well aware that corpses could hide all sorts of tricks. He had even sniffed around in spite of the stench.
“I don’t understand any of that. I have no idea what Fang Ge’s up to either.”
Lu Yang’s tone was firm. “But I’m sure of one thing: my corpse-controlling spell doesn’t work on him.”
“In other words, there’s still magic flowing inside this body. It hasn’t fully ‘ended’ yet!”
Jiao Jiao’s face sharpened. “Everyone on the boat!”
Lu Yang quickly retreated to the cabin. The mushroom trio didn’t dawdle, hopping back onto the deck and even dragging the overly engrossed ferryman with them. The boat floated to Guan He’s side, and the air went still.
“Maybe we’re overthinking it?” Xiao Li muttered awkwardly.
“No way!” Lu Yang shouted from the cabin. “I’ve got a really bad feeling. Believe in the weak!”
Xiao Li: “……”
Before he had time to open his mouth to retort, a gust of yin wind rose out of nowhere.
Cen Ling’s chest wound split open, and black-red blood squirmed out like a living thing, crawling in every direction.
Each droplet of blood emitted heavy yin energy, floating into the air and forming fine talisman-like patterns.
Using those droplets as cores, countless blood-shadows with no faces and rough outlines began to appear in the corridor.
Among the swarm of shadows, Cen Ling’s twisted body stood upright.
His eyes remained closed, his skin waxy and lifeless like a corpse, with not a hint of color.
Song Zheng’s Murder-Intent Seismograph went berserk. The bronze balls fell with a clatter in every direction.
“Typical of a cultist.” Jiao Jiao sighed. “Cen Ling clearly wanted to take some of us with him.”
“So what now?” Lu Yang poked his head out of the cabin, directing his corpses to quickly encircle the Cen Ling zombie.
Unfortunately, his corpses could block the zombie, but not the blood-shadows.
“What else can we do? Outlast him.” Xiao Li cracked his knuckles.
Guan He moved to the hospital room’s door, taking several deep breaths.
“We just have to hold on,” he said. “Until Fang Ge wins.”
As if answering his words, a burst of dazzling golden light exploded outside the corridor windows.
Central Garden of the Hospital
“There’s strange yin energy over there,” Bai Shuangying said, floating through the air with Fang Xiu in his arms. “Cen Ling’s aura vanished. His corpse must’ve been set up with a revenge-triggered grand spell.”
“It’s fine.”
Fang Xiu’s eyes were locked on the immortals. “If it’s just Guan He, he can phase through the walls. If others help, they can probably handle it.”
“Our job is to win and win fast.”
Bai Shuangying replied with a soft hum. “Just mentioning it.”
He didn’t really care whether those humans lived or died, but he felt obligated to inform his human.
Fang Xiu patted his hair. “I know.”
Since Cen Ling had left, the immortals had intensified their attacks. Just as Fang Xiu had predicted, the Heaven-Breaking Technique had been incorporated into the seals, severing Bai Shuangying’s link to his true body in Xushan.
And just as he expected, the battle wasn’t going well.
The immortals had swiftly adapted, shifting to intangible curses that bypassed the door defenses. Several immortals specialized in karmic manipulation stepped forward to unravel Bai Shuangying’s karmic chains.
Without support from Xushan’s power, Bai Shuangying’s spell strength had plummeted. The overwhelming advantage turned into a fifty-fifty struggle. All he could do now was cling to his human and dodge through the air.
The immortals pressed the attack with rapid spells, trying to deny him any chance to counter.
“Don’t rush.”
Fang Xiu clung to Bai Shuangying’s neck, his voice calm and gentle, like a hypnotic narrator. “You’re just too used to how you fought before. This isn’t your fault.”
Bai Shuangying swerved through hundreds of flying dagger-like celestial artifacts.
“We’re still fighting separately. There must be a better way to work together.”
Fang Xiu whispered softly into Bai Shuangying’s ear. “I’ve destroyed so many immortal E’s, I’m saturated with karma.”
“And you control karma. Think about that.”
A glittering golden net descended from the sky, followed by four armored, grim-faced immortals. Bai Shuangying dove down ten meters, narrowly avoiding the trap.
The four immortals saw their opportunity and gave chase.
“In metaphysical arts, I can’t help you.”
Fang Xiu smiled even under the rain of attacks, as if it were fireworks exploding around him.
“But I believe in you completely.”
He said, “Take your time, Bai Shuangying.”
There was something magical in his tone. Bai Shuangying’s panic quickly faded. He looked at the smiling human in his arms.
Fang Xiu’s body and soul were soaked in karma, yet he had no knowledge of metaphysical techniques.
At the moment, all he could do was use his taboo to fight back. He could manipulate karma at will and intuitively grasp metaphysical principles, but the immortals had severely weakened him.
Think, Bai Shuangying. Think carefully.
Think like Fang Xiu.
“…You really trust me?” Bai Shuangying mumbled after a pause. “Then I’m going to take everything you have.”
Fang Xiu froze slightly, but his smile didn’t fade.
“Go ahead,” he said solemnly, exhaling deeply.
Before he could even close his mouth, Bai Shuangying suddenly transformed into his true form and plunged roughly into Fang Xiu’s mouth and nose.
Before Fang Xiu could feel any pain, his consciousness began to drift.
He realized he had lost all control of his limbs. His body straightened on its own, floating in midair.
Possession.
But it was entirely unlike before. Fang Xiu felt no swelling, no pain creeping through his nerves and veins. He had become a pure observer, only able to watch the world through his own eyes.
And what he saw was a flash of white cloth.
The body was still his, but the red T-shirt had turned into Bai Shuangying’s white robes. Black hair cascaded down his shoulders, flowing with the white fabric.
With a flick of his right hand, Bai Shuangying firmly gripped the Peach Bone Evil.
…So that was it. They had completed the possession, and Bai Shuangying had taken control of the body.
Across from them floated four sword-bearing immortals, backed by golden light and wrapped in layers of protective spells. Their faces showed surprise, but more than that, wariness.
The torrential assault from the heavens hadn’t stopped, but Bai Shuangying no longer needed to carry Fang Xiu and moved with astonishing lightness. He decisively retracted the karmic red threads and muttered something under his breath.
It was the first time Fang Xiu had heard Bai Shuangying mumble in his voice, and he found it strangely fascinating.
“From Taiji arises two forms, from two forms come four images… From four images, the eight trigrams…”
“Endless trigram signs, entangled karma—within them all things of the world manifest…”
Bai Shuangying raised the Peach Bone Evil, and white peach blossoms trembled gently in the air. This time, what he released wasn’t one of Fang Xiu’s anomaly skills. Several red-glowing trigram symbols appeared around the weapon, slowly swirling through the air.
“Let the blades that strike me and break upon the sands,” Bai Shuangying said.
The trigram symbols froze midair, arranged themselves neatly on the peach branch, then faded into nothing.
At the same moment, the celestial swords held by the four immortals trembled violently, and in an instant became rusted. Before they could react, the brittle blades shattered and clattered to the ground.
Bai Shuangying couldn’t help but laugh. “How interesting.”
Enraged, the four immortals charged at him.
[I’ll take over,] Fang Xiu said.
Bai Shuangying gave a slight smile and vanished in a blink.
White clothes turned to red; the long hair and heterochromatic eyes remained unchanged. Fang Xiu’s gaze sharpened, and four doors opened right in front of the immortals. Inside, pitch-black darkness awaited.
The immortals tried to retreat, only to bump into yet another open door behind them. They were sandwiched tightly between both sides, unable to move.
When they tried breaking out in other directions, they found that every path had already been accounted for. In just moments, Fang Xiu had calculated every possible action they might take.
“No wonder you’re immortals. You have great instincts.”
Fang Xiu smiled. “But a death taboo is still a death taboo. If you harbor malicious intent toward us, you really shouldn’t walk through doors.”
As he spoke, his red robes turned white again.
At the exact moment the doors vanished, the Peach Bone Evil swung down. The arranged trigram signs lit up, and the four immortals, like nails suspended midair, were slammed into the ground.
The entire process was smooth and uninterrupted.
Ever since Bai Shuangying had given up his karmic kite tactics, the immortals’ fast attacks could no longer keep up with his casting speed.
“What’s going on?!”
The immortals in the sky hesitated in their attacks and turned to A’Shou for answers.
“Taboos are born from obsessions. Obsessions are bound to karma, and karma determines the trigram attributes of an E.”
A’Shou quietly sheathed her soft sword and cleared her throat.
“Fang Xiu carries countless strands of karma, filled with endless trigram patterns. The Corner of Heaven’s Will is currently extracting specific karmas and trigram patterns to create a new kind of ‘taboo’…”
Normally, ghost immortals could only use the taboos tied to their Immortal E.
But Bai Shuangying wasn’t a normal ghost immortal, and Fang Xiu wasn’t a normal Immortal E—
The God of Xushan born knowing how to weave karma, paired with a living E who actively gathers all phenomena under heaven.
“If that Immortal E needed a name, I think the ‘All Phenomena E’ would suit best.”
A’Shou sighed. “It’s true he can skillfully control his own taboos. But if the Corner of Heaven’s Will uses them… they’ll have as many taboos as they want.”
King Yan said nothing, but his silence was agreement.
“So the Underworld is saying we can’t even suppress the Corner of Heaven’s Will’s body?”
The blessed immortal had lost his smile.
A’Shou: “It’s not what the Underworld is saying. It’s what those two down below are saying.”
With that, she led a charge of ghost immortals toward the white-robed figure. Several other gods followed, though their momentum was noticeably weaker than before.
“A’Shou Jie!”
As A’Shou landed, white turned to red. Fang Xiu greeted her enthusiastically. “I knew you’d come. After all, my death taboo doesn’t work on you.”
Fang Xiu knew A’Shou didn’t harbor any true malice toward them. At most, she just wanted to beat him up to let off steam.
In a way, A’Shou was the most troublesome opponent in the entire group.
A’Shou patted her treasured soft sword at her waist and raised her hands. “Let’s get this straight. Don’t mess with my sword, or I won’t let you two off the hook.”
Fang Xiu beamed. “Of course!”
He reached behind him and pulled out the Earth Knocking Cauldron meal card, releasing the accumulated Immortal E’s yin energy inside.
The cauldron spewed it out like projectile vomit, launching several hundred full-power headless evil spirits.
Fang Xiu’s red sleeves lifted and fell as white sleeves. With a flick of the Peach Bone Evil, hundreds of headless spirits turned into hundreds of white-robed Fang Xius, surging toward the immortals behind A’Shou.
[Let’s end this farce, A’Shou Jie.]
Fang Xiu murmured from deep within the shared body.
Bai Shuangying, ever more direct, simply said, “Time’s about up. I want to go home.”
He paused, then corrected himself.
“We want to go home.”
The author has something to say:
The most compatible fusion pair. Fusion to fight by day, and… fusing again by night (?
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